1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of cellular telephone communications, and more specifically to a data processing system, method, and computer program product for transmitting secure cellular telephone communications utilizing a conventional cellular telephone.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional cellular telephones transmit and receive information utilizing radio signals. Conventional cellular telephones receive inputs typically either from an internal microphone included encased within the telephone or from a microphone that is external to the telephone and coupled to a microphone port on the cellular telephone. Inputs received from either microphone are then transmitted by the cellular telephone at a particular frequency. This radio frequency is capable of being monitored by contemporary radio scanners.
Cellular telephones are available that receive and transmit either analog signals or digital signals. When a conventional cellular telephone receives a signal, the receiving cellular telephone processes the signal in order to output that signal to a speaker. The signal may be output to the internal speaker that is encased within a telephone, or output to a speaker that is external to the telephone. When a conventional cellular telephone receives an encrypted signal, the cellular telephone has no means by which to decrypt the signal.
Palm held computer systems are well known in the art. They have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today's modern society. Palm held computers may be defined as a palm held computer, embedded controller, or embedded controller that includes a system unit having a central processing unit (CPU) and associated volatile and non-volatile memory. The palm held computer may also include random access memory (RAM), basic input/output system read only memory (BIOS ROM), an attached LCD display touchscreen, a pointing device which uses a stylist, optional serial ports, parallel ports, infrared ports, a wireless modem, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), general purpose I/O ports for augmenting the palm held computer/embedded computer, and/or CODEC devices for connecting to the Public Telephone Switched Network. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these palm held systems is that the components are modular enough to fit on a system board that fits into the user's hand and is powered by batteries. Another distinguishing characteristic of the palm help computers is their ability to download software applications via an uplink that is connected to a desktop computer.
Secured cellular telephone communications are essential to the military. However, they must purchase specialized equipment in order to transmit and receive secured radio communications.
Encryption algorithms are known to ensure that only the intended recipient of an electronic message may read and access the message. One known encryption algorithm is an asymmetric, or public key, algorithm. The public key algorithm is a method for encrypting electronic messages sent from a first entity to a second entity. This algorithm provides for a key pair comprised of a private key and public key which are mathematically related such that if the private key is used to encrypt data then only the matched public key can be used to decrypt the data, and visa versa.
Encryption keys may be obtained from a certificate authority. Certificate Authorities are entities that can issue digital certificates. Certificate Authorities are, in essence, a commonly trusted third party that is relied upon to verify the matching of public keys to identity, e-mail name, or other such information.
Therefore, a need exists for a method, system, and product for transmitting secure cellular telephone communications utilizing a conventional cellular telephone.